Also, I do not necessarily agree with Mark Sisson on the use of fruits in the diet for those who exercise. I suggest reading Dr. Richard Johnson’s book, “The Sugar Fix”. He feels that even the fructose in fruits can be dangerous if eaten beyond 20 gms/day, which is slightly more than one medium apple.

I think it would depend on how active you are, and on how metabolically damaged you are or aren’t. An active person would probably burn that off quickly.

Just saw this and thought it was interesting how the “experts” were so critical of the diet and how it works. Says one expert, ‘It just doesn’t make sense based on the science we know.”
The book about this Dukan diet will be called, “The Real Reason The French Stay Thin.” French paradox no more? It made me think of your post a few years back about the French, (I especially thought the part about you taking a mistress was funny).

I love the part about a low-carb diet doesn’t teach people to eat a “well-rounded” diet. When I ate a well-rounded diet, I was well-rounded myself.

My husband and I like the documentary “Fat Head” and it’s changing our way of thought. It’s not easy for me because I am accustomed to a high fiber, low fat type of diet that I’ve been on for most of my life. I like to get my fiber from cereals, breads and beans…and of course metamucil. My husband on the other hand is a meat and potato man. His problem was drinking 2 2-liter cokes per day for many years; now has changed to drinking tea with truvia since watching your movie…THANKS! He still needs to get the strength to fight off potatoes and Fritos!! We changed to coconut oil, but, my husband is having a hard time finding a healthy oil to deep fry his french fries in. He has been using canola oil for many years. I have always used olive oil for my frying needs. This is the main reason why I’m leaving a reply; please let us know what is the healthiest deep frying oil? Yes, I know he shouldn’t be deep frying, but he won’t listen to me.

@Sarah, re the LA Times article you cited. I could be wrong, but I’ve read–in more places than one–that if you cut fat and carbs, which the Dukan diet seems to do, you are going to eat more protein than the body (kidneys, especially) can tolerate in order to meet your energy needs. And that can be dangerous, particularly long term. (Which, I presume, is why they say the diet is not for people with kidney problems, etc.) And protein does produce an insulin response, albeit more slowly than most carbs. I remember reading an article in Scientific American (I think) a bunch of years ago where people tried to basically do Atkins, but lowered the fat content (because they were still afraid of it) and wound up in worse health than before. I think that’s what people will ultimately realize about this Dukan diet. I think Gary Taubes, Uffe Ravnskov, Tom and others have it right: Cut the carbs. Fat is not the problem. Sorry. You asked for Tom’s opinion and I would be interested in seeing what he says, too, after he gets back from his cruise. But in the mean time…thought I would chime in as I have studied this a lot.

@Sarah Oh, and the real reason the French (as a rule) stay thin has nothing to do with loading up on protein and cutting the fat and carbs (or drinking wine with the meal), as anyone who has spent any time in France will tell you. For one, they don’t eat much sugar. For two, as Will Clower (“The Fat Fallacy”, “The French Don’t Diet Plan) writes, it’s the way they eat that ensures that they actually don’t eat a whole lot of any one thing, but eat a little bit of a lot of different things. Their cuisine certainly is anything but low fat! There never was a “French Paradox”. There was only the one made up by the lipophobes to explain away the fact that, despite the huge proportion of fat, including plenty of saturated fat, in the French diet, they remained way more healthy and thin than people here!

If you want tasty potatoes without a lot of added fat, you could try ricing them – boil the potatoes without skins and run them through a good quality potato ricer. You could add a little bit of milk, chicken broth or good quality butter (such as Kerrygold), but you won’t need as much as you might with regular mashed potatoes.

You could also roast the potatoes (and other root vegetables) by slicing them into chunks, tossing them with some oil and acid (such as vinegar, lemon juice or wine), and adding some flavorings such as garlic, thyme, rosemary, salt, pepper, chile, etc. Then roast until crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.

If you insist on deep frying them, you might try to make pommes frites, which are similar to French fries, except that the potatoes are cooked twice in two different temperatures of oil (usually 325 to blanch and 375 to finish). As Tom says, they will work well with lard, coconut oil, etc. Though duck fat is supposed to be particularly decadent.

BTW, I don’t believe that potatoes should fall into the same category as white flour or processed sugar on the ‘bad carb’ scale. If the argument is that primitive man didn’t eat white flour or processed sugar, I can sort of buy that. But almost every primitive culture eats some sort of large, starchy root vegetable.

Agreed; potatoes were paleo food in many parts of the world. But for some of us, myself included, they spike blood sugar pretty dramatically and promote weight gain. My guess (without having any way to test) is that if I’d never discovered sugar as a kid and screwed up my metabolism, potatoes wouldn’t be much of a problem.

“my husband is having a hard time finding a healthy oil to deep fry his french fries in.”

You could try beef tallow, which I believe was what McDonalds used, making their fries among the best tasting ever until the Center for Science in the Public Interest forced them to switch to trans fats.

“You are going to eat more protein than the body (kidneys, especially) can tolerate in order to meet your energy needs. And that can be dangerous, particularly long term. (Which, I presume, is why they say the diet is not for people with kidney problems, etc.) And protein does produce an insulin response, albeit more slowly than most carbs. ”

This quote flies in the face of the Eades’ and “Protein Power”.

Drs. Eades and Eades don’t recommend eating lots of lean protein with little or no fat.

@Erik, “If you want tasty potatoes without a lot of added fat…” Why would one? The added fat (from real butter, sour cream, or the (natural) fat they’re fried in makes them more satisfying, so you eat less of them. Yes, they are root vegetables and not grains, but they are still (fairly high glycemic) carbs and the idea is to eat them in moderation (if your metabolism isn’t damaged to the point where you can’t eat them at all.) On the rare occasions that I eat potatoes, I smother them in butter or fry them in coconut oil. I have nothing against lard or tallow, but I like the health properties of coconut oil, so like to use it as much as possible. Sweet potatoes fried in coconut oil are to die for, in my opinion. I have had French Fries cooked in Duck oil at one particular restaurant near where my daughter used to live, though–YUM!

Beef tallow is easy to make yourself. Just ask your butcher for some unprocessed suet. If they cut their own primals from whole sides they’ll have plenty of suet on hand. Otherwise they can order it for you in 5-pound boxes. Then it’s pretty easy to render your own tallow.

NOTE: It’s easy, but you’ll be working with very hot fat and, for a while, hot fat with water in it. Don’t walk away, don’t get distracted, and don’t wear short sleeves.

@ Richard. I agree that tallow is the best for frying french fries (we use sweet potatoes instead of white). We render it ourselves from grass fed beef. Very yummy and versatile. We also render lard and use coconut and olive oil instead of franken oils.

“Lard is the way to go. You think it will impart a certain flavor but it won’t and nothing is greasy.” That’s because when you fry foods in fat that is (at least partially) saturated, the oil isn’t absorbed much at all. Foods fried in polyunsaturated oil absorb a lot more of the oil, which is why they feel and taste greasy (and are horrible for your health–all that rancid oil entering your system along with carbs!) I learned this from Mary Enig–in “Eat Fat, Lose Fat” and “Know Your Fats”.

@Peggy
Well, there you go, this just demonstrates to my once again that I have to read and re-read things so that I really understand what I am reading. I didn’t notice that the diet advocated low fat. I certainly don’t agree with that. I eat lots and lots of fat everyday, on purpose. When I read the article and commented, I was more focused on how cutting carbs was “bad” part. Thanks for pointing out my discrepancy.

The film follows Donal – a lean, fit, seemingly healthy 41 year old man – on a quest to hack his genes and drop dead healthy by avoiding the heart disease and diabetes that has afflicted his family.

Donal’s father Kevin, an Irish gaelic football star from the 1960s, won the first of 2 All Ireland Championships with the Down Senior Football Team in 1960 before the biggest crowd (94,000) ever seen at an Irish sporting event.

When Kevin suffered a heart attack later in life, family and friends were shocked. How does a lean, fit and seemingly healthy man – who has sailed through cardiac stress tests – suddenly fall victim to heart disease?